Tag Archives: Texas

This Will Destroy You performs at Black Cat on May 9, 2018. (Photo by Mark Caicedo)

Although I’m a late arrival to the post-rock party, I started following This Will Destroy You a couple years ago. With their sonic power, strong sense of melody and extreme technical abilities, this band’s music spoke to me in a way I’d never experienced before. So I jumped at the chance to see TWDY live at the Black Cat recently. As a bonus, to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the release of the eponymously named first full length album, the band would be performing it and the 2006 EP, Young Mountain, in their entireties.

Earlier this year, This Will Destroy You launched a series of performances celebrating the 10th anniversary of their eponymous 2008 studio album. That tour resumes next week, when it comes to the Black Cat for a show on Wednesday, May 9.

Lee Ann Womack has two identities as an artist. To casual listeners, Lee Ann is the pop country singer who had a smash mainstream hit with “I Hope You Dance.” More serious fans know Lee Ann for her more traditional country and roots music work — as the face of Spotify’s Americana Icons playlist. Playing to a packed crowd at the Birchmere on Friday, Lee Ann displayed both sides of her identity.

Neil Young was right. “Rock and roll will never die.” And no, that’s not an allusion to the seemingly myriad musical festivals or anniversary tours featuring reunited elders of sound like 2016’s Desert Trip — affectionately dubbed “Oldchella” — or most recently, the bicoastal weekend-long fêtes Classic East and Classic West last month. “Rock and roll is here to stay,” thanks to bands like Spoon (whose title is not a reference to the culinary utensil, but an homage to the 1970s German avant-garde collective called Can #themoreyouknow). These indie musicians heralding from the capital of the Lone Star State embody the notion that evolution is a form of revolution.

With the March 2017 release of their ninth studio album, Hot Thoughts, a promotional tour was sure to follow and it did. Their July 30 appearance at the newly renovated Merriweather Post Pavilion was not a solo headlining gig, but they most certainly performed like it was.

A chance encounter is sometimes the only thing standing between center stage and obscurity. For an alt-rock trio hailing from the tiny town of Groves, Texas (population 16,144) attempting to make it big in the City of Angels, Courtney Ballard was that celestial savior -– if of course you believe in that sort of thing.